Holiday Golightly. She’s quirky, comical, and glamorous. She’s fashionable, in-the-know, and in-the-now. She’s lonely, lost, and waiting to be rescued. You couldn’t resist her charm if you tried, and you can’t help but fall in love with her.

Well, at least in the Hollywood film version. Capote’s original novella paints a darker portrait of Miss Golightly. Unlike Audrey Hepburn’s adorable Holly, who needs a knight in slightly-rusted armor to save her, Capote’s girl is a “wild thing” who cannot be caged, trained, or rescued.

I can’t deny that the film is a classic and is one of my favorites. Audrey Hepburn may be the epitome of glamour and beauty, and Hollywood’s Holly can’t help but absorb Audrey’s charm. By the end of the film you find yourself rooting for “Fred” to save her from the nonsense of high society, reunite her with the cat, and wipe away her case of “the mean reds” forever. That is Hollywood, after all, and we would expect nothing less.

But the real Holly, Capote’s Holly, can never be caged by convention. It would be hard to imagine her ever settling down and being content with Fred (regardless of the fact that he is an implied homosexual in the book. Hollywood seemed to have “overlooked” that).

Don’t get me wrong, it’s not that the book’s Holly is a Bad Person; she’s just more layered and real. Think about it – how many people have you come across who create a new persona for themselves, based on what they perceive others to desire? People who feign interest in the popular styles/entertainment/notable people of the day, just to seem like a Very Important Person and garner adoration, fame, and possibly fortune. I could name a few.

But we get to go deeper than Holly’s exterior and see the scared and lonely girl at the core. She is terrified of being a caged animal, but also tired of being alone. She wants to seem as though she’s making a holiday out of life, but struggles with the need for stability and the desire for freedom.

The book I read also included three of Capote’s most famous stories, and I’d be remiss not to mention them as well: House of Flowers, A Diamond Guitar, and A Christmas Memory. The three short stories are amazingly intimate and touching, illuminating different sides of human emotion. I have not read Capote’s magnum opus, In Cold Blood, but after witnessing his detailed descriptions and haunting perceptions of human nature in these shorter forms, I have added his novel to my “to-read” list.

"It's better to look at the sky than live there; such an empty place, so vague, just a country where the thunder goes and things disappear"


[I'd forgotten how absolutely gorgeous Audrey Hepburn was]

Until a decade ago, I'd only seen the trailer for the film version. The phrase "Breakfast at Tiffany's" is iconic for that era. I'd not read the novel despite Truman Capote coming from the 2 states in which I've lived nearly all my life: Alabama and Mississippi, both of which have indisputably earned their places as regular punching bags of all outside the South, especially the cognoscenti and other snobbish bastards who would rather point fingers in a direction than look at all the bigotry around them.

I might be a little differently affected by this short novel than many others, especially those who grew up in a large metropolis. Before I explain what I mean, I'll say that I found Capote's short novel to masterfully display this young lady's complexities of character underlying the shallow facade of wealth. Capote shows how some of us are willing to do nearly anything to achieve a dream, no matter how grandiose or superficial others may find it. Holly Golightly was a dreamer extraordinaire or as Capote put it, a "lopsided romantic" whose trait of personality would never change.



A poignant line which I think best captures a major theme of the novel is Holly's observation late in the novel that:

"it's better to look at the sky than live there; such an empty place, so vague, just a country where the thunder goes and things disappear."

Though I've lived all my life in the American South, I'm not a redneck. I recall the first time I went to New York City. I was in awe, which is more of a small town thing than Southern. I've been many times since and the sheer size of it never fails to amaze me.

City people, particularly those in NYC, are disgusted by such provincialism--a contempt they cannot hide. Even though I'm straight, I think I can imagine how it must have been for an outcast sissy-boy from Monroeville, AL and Meridian, MS, trying to make his dreams come true in the Big Apple. Certainly, he would have been very sensitive and keenly observant of his environment in New York City, having grown up ostracized by his classmates. The fact that he was a gay man from down South up in the big city (suffering prejudices in NYC against not only his sexuality but much moreso against his Southern upbringing and drawl) probably served to further enhance his remarkable attention to detail in that society, at that time.

These difficulties formed an integral part of the artist who so vividly painted one of the best ever outsiders looking in with longing.

Холи Голайтли е хамелеон. А Труман Капоти много умело композира музика за хамелеони.

Холи не се привързва. Тя не дава имена на краткотрайните присъствия в живота си, защото това би означавало да принадлежи и да ѝ принадлежат. Тя обаче не понася клетки, били те и от думи. Холи не разопакова багаж. Тя е пътничка. Пътничка през живота и през сърцата на хората, у които оставя дълбоки разкървавени бразди. За себе си, за това, което е можело да бъде, и затова, че вече я няма.

Когато нашият безименен разказвач среща Холи, тя вече има разнебитващо душата минало, а той е скромен писател с мечти в бъдеще време. Оскар Уайлд ненапразно казва, че най-много се интересува от жените с минало и мъжете с бъдеще. Тя е бляскава, фриволна и по холивудски фатална, а той знае достатъчно, за да е наясно, че тази разкошна фасада крие пусти стаи и прашасали раковини, от които морето жално вие своето „Ехо!“. Холи е вълна от меланхолия, бурно миеща незнайните брегове на неуловимо щастие.

Холи е и ексцентрична или поне така изглежда. Но нищо не е такова, каквото изглежда. Светските партита, които дава, заобиколена от обещаващи мъже, са опит да запълни огромната празнина, зейнала между „сега“ и „искам“. А всъщност Луламе Барнс е наивно уплашено малко момиче, идещо от провинциално градче, говорещо като малкото диваче на 14, което краде пуйчи яйца с брат си и ребрата му се четат. За нея няма друга реалност, освен тази, че трябва да дадеш, за да получиш и тя дава на обществото това, което то неистово иска – леконравна кокетка без задръжки и угризения. Всъщност единствената ѝ връзка със себе си такава, каквато е, остава именно брат ѝ – който не е искал нищо в замяна, за да ѝ даде себе си. Може би и затова тя нарича най-верния си слушател и приятел Фред, като брат си, без да пита за истинското му име – защото ѝ се ще поне веднъж да получи безкористна топлина.

Всъщност „Закуска в Тифани“ е само отчасти тъжна история. Отчасти, защото Холи така и не спира да бъде малкото момиче, което мечтае. А „Тифани“ е просто начинът, по който Холи е нарекла своята мечта („Не че давам пет пари за скъпоценности“). Там „лошите чернилки“ се разсейват. Там всички са любезни, „нищо ужасно лошо не може да ти се случи там, разбира се, че не може“ и не си детето булка, което трябва да е майка на други пет деца. Струва ми се всички (трябва да) имаме своята въображаема „Тифани“ и да не спираме да я търсим наяве.

Холи така и не знаеше къде принадлежи. Като диво животно разчиташе на усета си, че един ден ще разбере. Надявам се да е намерила дома си и да не се бои да бъде себе си там. Защото ми се струва, че тя е млада жена, която има и бъдеще.

But it's Sunday, Mr. Bell. Clocks are slow on Sundays.
Breakfast at Tiffany's and Three Stories ~~ Truman Capote



I first read Breakfast at Tiffany's and Three Stories at the age of 12. It was the first adult novel I had read. I found it in a box of books my mom had packed away. I felt so mature reading Capote. I viewed him as an exotic in bland Wisconsin.

Imagine the shock to my 12 year old system. I was expecting Audrey Hepburn. Instead, I got an education.

There is something wistful for me in revisiting Capote's universe. It's a place I’ve been to before ~~ actually this reread brought me back to two different places ~~ Capote's Cafe Society and that universe the 12 year old me inhabited. Breakfast at Tiffany's reminds me of a time when parties happened at all hours, when people came and went, where the normal rules of life were thrown out the window and where intense relationships happen and then quickly disappear leaving that memory of whatever happened to …, knowing that that person irrevocably changed your own life, making it seem much darker, so much less, without them.



The real Holly ~~ or is it Marguerite Littman or Oona O'Neill or Gloria Vanderbilt or Suzy Parker or Marilyn Monroe or ... ~~ Truman Capote’s Holly is in fact much darker, a much more layered person then she's become in pop culture. When Holly and her brother are orphaned at a young age and she marries at 14 she runs away from this life and the person she is. She is a young, beautiful girl who reinvents herself as a highly sought after social escort who lives life as if each moment were a holiday. Holiday Golightly ~~ Traveling is what’s written on her business cards.

The story is told from the point of view of Fred ~~ Capote's alter ego ~~ a struggling young writer, who gets to know Holly when he moves into an apartment in an old brownstone in New York during the Second World War. He first meets her when she appears on his fire escape but long before that, he heard the music, the parties and the voices of an endless stream of middle-aged men who came and went from her flat.

Over the course of the year and half that he knows her, Fred ~~ a name that she gives him because he reminds her of her brother ~~ is pulled into the world of Holly Golightly, who entertains Hollywood directors, wealthy gentleman she dines with nightly and who dreams of marrying rich. Her solace is at Tiffany’s which offers an almost realized form of the life she longs for.



Holly's invented self is so large that the distance between it and reality is far enough that you fear that she’ll never find that center that everyone needs to understand where they belong. It could go on forever. Not knowing what’s yours until you’ve thrown it away. There are only a few moments in the book where the rawness and vulnerability of her true self is momentarily revealed and it breaks your heart in the same way as when you see a wounded animal.

I had wanted to revisit Breakfast at Tiffany's to see how my feelings about this book that means so much to me have stood the test of time. I remember Breakfast at Tiffany's as a light, breezy jaunt thru long gone New York. On this go around I found the story of Holly to be a darker look at the human experience and I quite liked my new take on a this beloved book.

Perhaps, Norman Mailer summed it up best. He called Capote the most perfect writer of my generation; I would not have changed two words in Breakfast at Tiffany's

Capote has a mesmerizing way with words. His description of the aptly named Holly Golightly is splendid and the character herself is a sort of blend of Daisy Buchanon and Madame Bovary. The friendship of the narrator Paul/"Fred" with Holly is beautifully and painfully described as are the parties and lovers that she entertains. I must see the film now...(see below)
The atmosphere of the book is a sort of bohemian yet preppy post-Beat decadence but with a tragic sexism that poisons Holly's relationships with everyone except the narrator. She is both an actor and a victim of her status as a sex object - this is what transports this story from something banal to something more complex and enduring.

The Diamond Guitar is a tender story of unrequited love as well, albeit homosexual love and longing and disappearance.

House of Flowers is a vivid depiction of a Haitian whorehouse, the Champs-Elysées and the sadomasochistic love of Ollite for Royal that leads her to an indifferent fate at the House of Flowers.

A Christmas Memory is a heartbreaking tale of camaraderie between a young boy and an older woman and their dreams of surpassing their humble existence.

Each of these stories of love, loss, and hope against hope that avoid sentimentalism in their cold rendering of events. It is more the external elements (the weather in New York, the changing seasons at the farm, the bee prophecy and the wind respectively) that color the psychology of the characters and their ambiguous fates.
I loved these stories and will read more of Truman Capote's work.

I started watching the movie with the amazing Audrey Hepburn as Golightly and George Peppard as "Fred" and find it captures the essence of the relationship between these two characters. However, why did they have Mickey Rooney do that ridiculous (and perhaps racist) imitation of Yunioshi, why not just have a Japanese actor. The other annoying thing about the movie is the comic spin that it puts to the book which while at times somewhat humorous was for the most part darker and more layered than depicted by Blake Edwards.

Audrey Hepburn’s Holly is so fucking adorable. You want to be her friend. You want to help her. You want to hug her. Truman Capote’s Holly is just awful. I hated her so much. And instantly too. I don’t know what the narrator saw in her. She's a world-class whore in more ways than one. Are we supposed to be charmed by her racism and homophobia? Beguiled by her ridiculous, histrionic bullshit?

Marilyn or Audrey? Who do you think?

When Audrey was cast, Truman Capote remarked:

n  “Paramount double-crossed me in every way and cast Audrey.”n

In one of the most iconic scenes in film history, it would be impossible to think of anybody other than Audrey Hepburn wearing the “Little Black Dress” while looking into the window of Tiffany’s. Well, if it had been up to the author of the book on which the movie is based, Truman Capote, it would have been Marilyn Monroe. In fact, he wrote the book with her as the character in mind. Even the movie’s screenwriter, George Axelrod, wrote the script tailored to her.

Marilyn was actually talked out of taking the role by her acting coach, Lee Strasberg — he felt that playing the lead role would be bad for her image.

The book

Breakfast at Tiffany's, set in 1943, documents the friendship of a New York writer (whose name is never mentioned) with his neighbour Holiday (Holly) Golightly. Both live in a brownstone apartment building in Manhattan's Upper East Side. The story is presented as the writer's recollections of Holly many years after the conclusion of the friendship.

Holly is a woman of mystery to everyone in her life. There is ambiguity surrounding her profession; she has no job and lives by socializing with wealthy men, who wine, dine, and give her gifts and money, together with the ocassional overnight stay.

Was Holly Golightly a prostitute?

In a 1968 interview in Playboy, Truman Capote addressed the question:

n  Playboy:n   "Would you elaborate on your comment that Holly was the prototype of today's liberated female and representative of a "whole breed of girls who live off men but are not prostitutes. They're our version of the geisha girl."?n  
n  
n  Capote: n  "Holly Golightly was not precisely a callgirl. She had no job, but accompanied expense-account men to the best restaurants and night clubs, with the understanding that her escort was obligated to give her some sort of gift, perhaps jewelry or a check ... if she felt like it, she might take her escort home for the night. So these girls are the authentic American geishas, and they're much more prevalent now than in 1943 or 1944, which was Holly's era.."?n

Breakfast at Tiffany's excels in imagery, the prose lyrical. It has many layers to it. Abandonment, loneliness, the need to belong and yet not be chained at the same time, the delight in the unorthodox and not loving a wild thing.



This was a sad book in lots of ways. We have Holly who is an odd mixture of childlike innocence and street smart sexuality, confused yet determined, who knows very well what she wants and will walk over others to get it. Then you have the other characters in her life who are obsessed by her, whose lives evolve around her, and no matter how bad she treats them, they come back for more.

As a reader, it is difficult to like Holly. She is referred to as a phony as she hides herself behind interesting lies and an eccentric lifestyle. She wants no responsibility or ties to people or things. She keeps disconnected and unloving for the freedom of her feelings.

I enjoyed the book more than the movie. Capote describes Holly in such a way that you get the sense he has moulded her on someone that he knew, someone who intrigued him and held an allure or aura of mysticism that left a deep impression.

A gread read!

As someone who grew up in the 90s, this was in my head the whole time I read this:



I have never seen the movie (update: I finally did see the movie shortly after reading the book), so the only idea I had in my mind is this iconic image of Audrey Hepburn as Holly Golightly:



But, what I actually got was this:



Holly is crass and obnoxious with really no redeeming qualities. She is rude to her enemies, and even worse to her friends. She smokes to excess, drinks to excess, is promiscuous to excess - she is just wild, crazy, and destructive.

Reading this was like watching a train wreck - but I kind of liked it. I couldn't look away!

First Capote that I read and have absolutely no regrets about, the author brilliantly paints the complexity of feelings and the quest for freedom of youth. I loved this reading, presenting an impossible passionate love and how Capote offers the New York environment.

A charming little anecdote about some ruby-rare bright young thing & ensuing crew--delightly-ful! To be read in a complete sitting in some secret well-lit garden with a basket of tea and crumpets. Necessary as stress relief and sweet as a caramel. Another plus for the already egotistical NYC, Holly Golightly is heavily embossed onto the overall structure, asphalt jungle, itself.

Review of the audio narrated by Michael C. Hall.

Just a few quick thoughts. Michael C. Hall is an incredible narrator. My favorite parts were the bits where he was in Holly's voice. Overall, Breakfast at Tiffany's continues to be worthy of its classic stature, and the audio is the perfect way to experience it!

Armed with dark glasses and a Picayune cigarette, here comes the enigmatic Holly Golightly. She is an irresistible bundle of contradictions -- a shrewd operator and a naïve star gazer, a lopsided romantic and an intermittent pragmatist, and a wild soul who really wants to play house someday. She hides behind a layer of whimsy,  a true work of art, which functions both as her star attraction and her defense mechanism of choice. With those charming ways, sassy talkbacks, and quirky imperfections, this girl aims right for the heart. To quote Ricky Martin, "she's livin la vida loca".  While in her company, I wondered if these youthful capers of hers will mellow down with age but a whiff of her ongoings almost ten years later suggests that time hasn't dampened her spirit. Anyhow, do people change that much or deviate from the behaviour that shapes their individuality? 

Throughout the 80-odd pages, the spotlight shines bright on the sprightly Miss Golightly but the story is as much about the inwardly wrapped-up narrator who strikes up a friendship with her as much as The Great Gatsby is an examination of Nick Carraway's thoughts, prejudices and a gradual shift in perception after increased intimacy with the protagonist.  There's always an element of intrigue when the narrator is deliberately unnamed and played down and more so in this case because he competes with the enchanting Holly to get the attention of the reader. This intentional modesty reveals a lonely young man looking for his place in an unkind world where anyone who is different is a misfit. He is similar to Holly in his independence of spirit which rejects any sort of imposed regimentation, his hidden yet strong yearning for a genuine connection, and also in his easily wounded pride. In the character of this anonymous narrator, there is a lingering hint of Mr. Capote himself, right from an aspiring young writer who shares his birthday with the author (30th September) to the multiple references to homosexuality.

It's a deceptively smooth ride through this perfect piece of prose which is fluid, stylish, and utterly delightful, but at the same time constructed with a rigorous precision that makes you sit up and admire Capote's efforts. The writing is as much of a presence as Holly is. In spite of the deeper undercurrents of loneliness, loss, and melancholy, there's never a dull moment. And this must be one of the most captivating endorsements of the charm that NYC holds. 

It's been ages I watched the Hollywood adaptation so no point in comparing it with the book. I enjoyed the Audible version wonderfully narrated by Michael C. Hall and then read the book to savour the perfection one more time. 

There is an abundance of compelling reasons to go back to Capote but I would run to him again even if his only excuse was this glorious writing style.